Saturday, 20 November 2010

What absence policies need to contain

Absenteeism definitely represents one of the most difficult
and at the same time costly problems employers are constantly prompted to
tackle. The knock-on effect it habitually produces more often than not makes a considerable
impact on employee engagement and motivation, and thus on organizational
performance and productivity.

The number of employers
which accurately monitor the phenomenon is indeed exceedingly small. In many cases,
this is due to the circumstance that these find it difficult dealing with individuals
who have an unacceptable level of attendance and assume that taking appropriate
action may exacerbate employee relations and make a negative impact on individual
engagement. Public companies, for instance, habitually introduce effective
practices to properly manage the problem on paper, but are unlikely to properly
and consistently implement these in practice.

In
order for employers to effectually deal with the issue these should, first and
foremost, ensure that their HR function has formulated a clear absence policy. This
has to be intended as a tremendously important prerequisite in that it enables organizations
to be clear about how they intend to manage attendance. Copy of the policy should
be also handed to new employees at the moment of their recruitment. Just to demonstrate
the significance attached by the employer to this aspect, in the new hire
orientation programme should be ideally also added a specific session aiming at
providing individuals further explanations and clarifications of the procedure.
Yet, employment law specialists should ensure that the company absence policy
is clearly mentioned in the contract of employment as an integral part of the employment
terms and conditions so that employees know from the outset that they have to comply
with this.

The introduction of a
formal written absence policy and procedure, clearly stating and describing how
employees should behave during absence, how these must communicate their absence
to the employer and how to eventually certify it enables employers to give open
evidence of how seriously they take absenteeism. Whether employees realize that
their employer pays particular attention to their attendance records, it is
very likely that these adapt their behaviour accordingly. Some companies, for
example, to emphasise the tremendous importance they give to attendance, use to
periodically publish anonymous statistics of the overall absence levels recorded
by the different units, offices or departments. This information is often
offered together with a clear description of the effects which unacceptable
levels of absence produce upon the employees who are regularly present.

Absence
policies should be invariably formulated in clear, simple and very
comprehensible terms, avoiding jargon and clearly stating employee rights and
obligations during illness absence. Also in those cases in which this does not represent
a legal requirement, employers should provide their employees all the details regarding
the way these must behave in case of incapacity for work due to illness or
injury, including any provision for sick pay. The
lack of appropriate policies as well as the effective implementation of
ineffective absence policies can indeed lead to an increased
number of casual short-term episodes of absence.

In general, there are
remarkable differences between the way absence policies and practices are
managed by public and private sectors employers. Public sector employers typically
introduce detailed and thorough practices, regard absence rates as a key
performance indicator, put in place trigger systems enabling them to identify unacceptable
levels of absence, train their line managers to properly manage absence, offer
their employees access to occupational health services and provide individuals time-off
for private emergencies. Notwithstanding, due to ineffective execution, all of these measures more
often than not fail to meet employer expectations and in some cases also show
to be counterproductive. Public sector organizations are in fact habitually less
likely to discipline or dismiss employees and to restrict sick pay for
absence-related reasons than private sector employers.

To
effectually reduce absenteeism rates the simple introduction of policies does
not clearly suffice, a consistent execution is clearly also necessary. In order
for employers to attain this objective these should provide the required support
to the employees genuinely ill, whereas taking firm action against the minority
of people who try to take advantage of their occupational sick pay schemes. Public
sector organizations find it habitually hard attaining an appropriate balance
between these two activities.

Once attendance policies are devised,
in order for these to produce the expected results it is necessary that these
are clearly communicated to the entire workforce. This will in turn enable employees
to know not only what it is expected from them, but also what support the organization
may make available to them in case of illness (for instance, counselling or
occupational health services).

The Confederation of British
Industry (CBI, 2009) recommends employers to tailor their policies to the needs
of their workforce. Absence policies should be hence formulated taking heed of
the individual needs and circumstances, but should also aim at fostering
employee commitment to the organizational values and the type of behaviour the
employer is expected individuals to exhibit.

To give evidence of
their genuine concern about employee wants, some organizations use to bargain
their absence policies with trade unions, which are typically as concerned as employers
about employee unacceptable sickness absence levels. The
full involvement of line managers and employee representatives in the implementation
of absence policies is clearly of paramount importance, too.

Regulations, employee needs and
employer expectations are constantly, and it may be argued increasingly,
subject to change. To ensure that the provisions included into a policy continue
to be legally sound and still fit the changing circumstances, a policy review should
be regularly performed. Careful,
regular reviews enable employers to substantially improve their
policy also on the basis of the lessons learned over time.

When performing a policy review
employers should, amongst the other things, try and provide answers to the
following questions:

•Does
the existing policy actually favour good attendance at work?

•Have
the costs of the policy been fully evaluated against its benefits?

•Do
clear “come back work” procedures exist according to the different degrees of
illness? For instance, an employee might be unfit to perform some activities, but
might be fit to perform some others;

•Have
been some specific area identified as particularly problematic and action taken
accordingly?

Absence policies are
different from organization to organization and highly likely to vary according
to the different circumstances and needs; nonetheless, some common, valuable features
can be definitely identified. The main aim of an effective
absence policy is to clearly state employee rights and obligations during
illness, a good absence policy should hence:

Provide
details of the contractual sick pay terms and conditions, and clearly
explain their relationship with statutory sick pay;

Explain
in which cases, and eventually to whom, employees need to notify their absence;

Define after how many days of
absence due to illness individuals need to fill a self-certificate form and
to whom and when it has to be eventually handed, faxed or emailed;

Clearly explain in which cases employees
cannot self-certify absence and require a fit note (UK) or a certificate from
their GP;

Clarify that under some circumstances
some adjustments may be made to assist the employees in their return to
work;

Mention that the organization
reserves the right to require employees to attend an examination by a
company doctor and, with the worker’s consent, to request a report from
their GP;

Include
provisions for return-to-work interviews;

Provide
guidance on how to behave whether absence is due to specific severe
circumstances, like adverse weather conditions and pandemics;

Clearly state that the employees who fail to comply with the rules provided
for by the absence policy may be subject to disciplinary action.

When formulating and
implementing an absence policy, some fundamental principles of best practice
need to be duly considered, too. In general, employers should invariably:

Establish a context of mutual trust and confidence with staff and a
safe and healthy environment where employees can feel at ease talking with
their managers about absence causes and get their support and advice;

Clearly communicate that employees are not expected to attend
work whether unfit, no matter how much inconvenience their absence is causing
or likely to cause. This tenet, which may allow to prevent serious problems and
legal responsibilities to the employer, may also strongly contribute to
establish a climate of mutual trust;

Consult the employee doctor or a company-appointed MD in
those cases in which health conditions may affect an employee ability to do
his/her job;

Implement draconian health and safety measures to both prevent
sickness and injury to occur in the workplace and create a healthy and save
work environment;

Introduce flexible working policies;

Offer employees occupational health services and keep
communications with absent employees (send cards and flowers where appropriate)
to improve the effectiveness of retention policies and favour individual smoother
return to work after a mid- to long-term absence period.

Absence policies can indeed help to manage absenteeism, but these
can contribute to prevent the frequency of the phenomenon just in part. To fully
attain the objective, employers should, first and foremost, introduce sound and
effective people management practices favouring and enhancing individual engagement
and motivation.

Employers should also duly consider that in the cases of
genuine illness, their support during employee recovery plays a particularly
significant role and can represents an important step forward to build a
climate of mutual trust and confidence with employees.

Research shows that the early intervention of line managers
and the establishment of a two-way communication channel with employees effectively
help employers to reduce absence rates and identify the underlying causes behind
these.

The main aim of absence policies is to ensure that individuals
can raise issues which may trouble them at an early stage so that these can be
addressed before escalating and spinning out of control.

Effective absence management is also very much about aiming
at creating a work environment focused on staff well-being and preventing employees
to wake up in the morning and thinking “I don’t feel like going to work today”
or put it in another way “I’m going to throw a sickie today.”